How are young people represented in the media today?

It is fair to say that the media doesn't provide an exact or correct representation of young people as they often use stereotypes and archetypes to portray the group. Because of this, the audience can't be provided with a fully rounded representation of the group as a whole and therefore this will create mixed opinions and views of young people. 

Often there are examples of media texts that attempt to provide a wider representation of youth. An example of this is the television programme 'The Inbetweeners'. Even though they attempt to represent young people in a non-sterotypical way they often find themselves bowing down to Propps stock character types. For example the character of Neil contains a wide variety of stereotypes which comes with the archetype of the 'Stupid One'. He often uses simplistic language which makes him look stupid as the other boys (and the audience) find his use of malapropisms humorous. Also the juxtaposition of his idiocy and him being in a higher education setting creates humour as he obviously doesn't belong there. Another example of a media text which attempts to create a true-to-life representation of young people is the television show, 'Skins'. Even though they attempt to  show the life of a 'real life' teenager they often stereotype young people as all being mischievous, sex-oriented, drug-taking maniacs. This creates a negative representation of young people, and in turn provides authority figures in society with ammunition to portray them in this way. 

The media text which provides a completely different representation of young people than both The 'Inbetweeners' and 'Skins' is 'Bliss' Magazine The magazine mostly targets teenage girls from the age of 9-13, often referred to as 'tweens'. The magazine likes to represent young people as being happy and healthy, this is shown through the use of the main image and the cover lines that the magazine often uses. The encoders choose all these aspects to make up the front cover of 'Bliss' magazine as a way to mediate and imbed certain ideologies into the target audience's consciousness. Through mediation they firstly choose the main image they will include. The main image usually features a female celebrity in which they encoders believe they target audience should look up to and aspire to be like. An example of a frequent celebrity featured on the cover of 'Bliss' magazine is Taylor Swift because she is neither mischievous or rebellious, providing an example of the 'perfect girl' in which the girls who read 'Bliss' magazine should become. The encoders also use cover lines to mediate, often the front cover of the magazine is cluttered with both cover lines and images, this creates a chaotic look to the magazine, almost as if it is full to the brim with information. The cover lines featured on the front cover of the magazine as often related to the struggles of a tweenager, like tips on friends, family, fashion and romance. Often they use quotations from the article inside the magazine as the cover line for the story to entice the audience into buying the magazine to read on further.